US expects India to implement Iran sanctions

Washington: The United States has expressed confidence that India would implement the tough new United Nations Security Council imposed sanctions against Iran for its alleged clandestine nuclear weapons programme.

"I think India`s record on implementation of previous Security Council resolutions has been an admirable one," US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs William Burns told reporters on Thursday.

"And I do expect that India, as its leadership has made clear publicly, will follow through and implement the new resolution," he said when asked if India and the US were on the same page on sanctions against Iran.

India, he noted, has voted three times in the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors to hold Iran accountable for its failure to meet its international obligations.

"Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has also reinforced on a number of occasions the fact that India shares international concerns about a nuclear-armed Iran and the obvious negative consequences that would have for a part of the world that`s very important to both of us, as well as to the global economy," Burns said.

Manmohan Singh has time and again underlined India`s traditional ties with Iran and voiced opposition to sanctions that, in New Delhi`s view, end up hurting the common people.

While India believes that a nuclear powered Iran is not in the interests of regional stability, it has consistently advocated dialogue and diplomacy to resolve the issue of the Iranian nuclear programme and supported Tehran`s right to peaceful uses of nuclear energy within the purview of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

New sanctions target Iran`s powerful Revolutionary Guard and include freezing the assets of 40 additional companies and organizations -- 15 linked to the guards, 22 involved in nuclear or ballistic missile activities and three linked to the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines.

The sanctions also bar Iran from pursuing "any activity related to ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons," investing in nuclear-related activities like uranium mining, and buying some categories of heavy weapons, including attack helicopters and missiles.

The Iran issue figured during the recently concluded India-US Strategic Dialogue between team led by External Affairs Minister SM Krishna and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.